Last night I was reading late and came across this awesome sermonette in a counseling book I needed to read for our Peacemaking Initiative at FBC. It just drove home to me the importance of studying Eschatology. I had the thought ' How many of us really know why we are studying revelation? Is it only because it is controversial and exciting? What does it have to do with my life right now? How could studying it be of help to me in my circumstances now?
Well, this is the best overview of the Christian Life I have ever seen in 3 pages! It is an excerpt from a chapter titled " Here's Where God is Taking You" from the book "how people change" by Tim Lane and Paul Tripp.
Perhaps you may want to incorporate some of these thoughts into your introduction to the Revelation class.
For what it is worth,
Rich Brito
Living with the Destination in View1
The Bible contains the world’s best and most important story, the story of redemption. You and I live between the first an second coming of Christ in the middle of the story. Sometimes life can seem a lot like reading a novel. You’re in the middle of the story and you can’t resist scanning the last chapters to see how things turn out. It’s only when you know the end that the plot twists begin to make sense.
The biblical story has a clear beginning. Out of nothing whatsoever, God created a beautiful world and placed Adam and Eve in it. They were perfect people, living in full and complete relationship of love, obedience, and worship with the Creator. They had everything they could ever need or want. Adam and Eve were God’s image bearers, appointed by God to be resident managers over the world he had created.
But Adam and Eve were not content to worship and obey God. In a shocking act of disobedience, they stepped outside of God’s plan. This defiance opened the floodgates of sin an destruction onto the once perfect earth. The fellowship between God and man was horribly broken. Fear, guilt, and rebellion replaced love, worship, and obedience. All of creation was cursed with weeds, decay, and disease. But God was not content to let things remain broken. He declared war on sin and sent his Son to earth to win the finial victory on the cross. He now applies the results of that victory to his sin-scarred children and his sin-marred earth.
When the biblical story ends, God will defeat every last enemy, the final enemy being death. We will become like God and live with him forever. This information is important for three reasons:
1. If you want to go in the right direction, you need to know your final destination.
2. The details of you live only make sense when viewed from the perspective of eternity.
3. Eternity teaches us what is really important in life.
The Bible is a storybook that gives us everything from our origin to our ultimate destiny. God opens up the last chapter of the story for us and invites us to look in, to listen, and then to look back on our lives. The purpose of Scriptures like Revelation is not to provide maps and charts to determine when Christ’s return will take place. No, Revelation is in the Bible to help us understand our final destination, and thereby make sense of our lives here and now.
(Note: the people referred to in the following paragraph are from four case studies the author proposed at the beginning of the chapter this excerpt was taken from. They are case studies depicting typical life situations many can relate to.)
Why would Jed be willing to miss promotion after promotion because he is committed to honesty and integrity? If this life is all there is, Jed is a fool. Why would Andrea be willing to forgive Dana over and over for disloyalty, if there were no eternity? She would be the willing victim of her own foolishness. Why would Pete endure ridicule for his faith from his high school peers, if there is not more than this? If there is no eternity, Pete has made a stupid choice. Why would Michael invest so much time, money, and energy in Ministry, if this life is all there is? Why faithfully obey? Why cheerfully give? Why turn the other cheek? Why study God’s Word? Why pray without ceasing? Why be committed to what is right?? Why seek justice and mercy? Why make personal sacrifices? Why persevere? Why worship?
Everything God does and everything God calls us to only make sense from the perspective of eternity. If there is no end to the story, believers are a bunch of fools who need to be pitied. There is no reason for what we have tried to do.
But there is a final chapter! God has opened it up so that we could look in and then look back to our lives with understanding and hope.
Looking In and Looking Back
One of the most amazing scenes in the Bible is captured in Revelation 7.
Rev. 7:9-17 NIV
After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. [10] And they cried out in a loud voice:
"Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb."
[11] All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, [12] saying:
"Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!"
[13] Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes--who are they, and where did they come from?"
[14] I answered, "Sir, you know."
And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. [15] Therefore,
"they are before the throne of God
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.
[16] Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat upon them,
nor any scorching heat.
[17] For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;
he will lead them to springs of living water.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
Step into this scene of eternity. Look around, listen carefully, and then look back on your life to understand what cannot be understood any other way. Revelation 7 allows us to see the Lamb on the throne and hear the voices of the saints who have completed their journey. Do you see yourself in the crowd? These saints are people just like you. Like you, they suffered the scorching heat of earthly life. Like you, they went through God’s process of radical change. Now they have reached their final destination. They stand before God’s throne, purified and free, with a full welcome into the presence of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, their Savior, their Shepherd Lamb.
Picture yourself there, because in God’s story, your are there. This is your destination. This is where God is taking you! You will make it through the heat! Someday you will stand before the throne. There will be a moment mhen your voice will be heard in the chorus of praise that will never end. Someday you will be convinced that it has all been worth it. Life looks dramatically different when examined through the lens of eternity.
1 “how people change” by
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